Drink Your Decade

At any establishment in Happy Valley, you’re just as likely to strike up a conversation with a 1972 Penn State grad as you are a 2004 graduate. And while there are a number of commonalities between all Penn State alums, there are usually significant differences in the popular drinks at the time of graduation.

For example, it is pretty unfortunate that current students can no longer order a “Mind Eraser” at the Gingerbread Man (now a Primanti Bros. location) – and the customary Jager Bomb orders in the first decade of the 2000s have significantly shifted to Fireball shots. And while Natty Light and Milwaukee’s Best (The Beast!) seem to be around for the long haul in college towns today, in the 70s and 80s students likely thought the same about Genny Light and Schlitz.

Our friends at the Nittany Lion Inn have the perfect drink menu idea that encourages you to drink your decade – from the 70s to the present. Fear not – they aren’t actually asking you to pretend you enjoy the cheap drinks that got you through college, but instead, try the classic cocktails of the time period.

For the 70s, the Nittany Lion Inn encourages us to bring back the “Three Martini Lunch” with a Grey Goose Dirty Martini – shaken, not stirred.

In the 80s, while hair bands were taking over the airwaves and bars became regular settings for television shows, local pubs were being stocked with far sweeter liquors and juices. The Nittany Lion Inn’s Release Valve – rum, vodka, pineapple juice and grenadine – is sure to sweeten up even the worst of days.

The 90s brought us some of the best Penn State football seasons of all time – and also returned to prominence some of the most popular drinks of the prior decades; particularly the Cosmopolitan, thanks to Sex and the City. The Nittany Lion Inn opts for Absolut Citron Vodka to make the perfect Cosmo.

And presently, while craft beer is all the rage across the country, the Nittany Lion Inn puts a twist on the famous Moscow Mule and offers a delicious Mongolian Mule on their drink the decade menu.

While the Nittany Lion Inn is only offering four drinks currently on this menu, the concept is great and got us here at HappyValley.com thinking about our favorite drinks through the years.

What are your favorite drinks from your college years and beyond? Comment below and let us know what would be featured on your own Drink the Decade Menu.